The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes

18Jun. Kindle.

I saw this on one of the Kindle deals and bought it. I hadn't read any Martha Grimes in years. I vaguely remember that they were a little depressing and at a point I just started reading other stuff instead. To my utter amazement, when I looked up her wiki for a book list they specifically categorized her as a writer of "cozies." Really! I haven't read many that I would think less cozy than hers. The detective, Richard Jury, is seriously depressed and the crimes are not exactly lightweight.

I suppose his sergeant and his hypochondria are a sort of comic relief, and I suppose some might read his civilian sidekick, Melrose Plant that way, but not really. Her gimmick is the pub names for titles. Are gimmicky titles a "cozy" criteria? This is not actually the first, but I had it - so I read it.

I enjoyed it, except for Jury's interactions with his supervisor, who is abusive and stupid - and frankly not very realistic - except that I once worked for someone very much like him. That's probably why those parts of the story bothered me.

One of the problems faced by the detectives from Scotland Yard is that apparently they are not called in on a case until the local constabulary has totally fouled everything up. They prove how good they are by solving only cold cases, I suppose. How very British. In either this book or the first one (which I have already read, but not commented on) Melrose Plant comments on the fact that given the way they prepare and serve toast, there must be a prevalent fiction that the British actually prefer cold toast - was Grimes alluding to the way that cases are handled by their hierarchical police system?

Here a young woman is murdered - stabbed to death by a mysterious two pronged weapon - while on her way in a striking costume to a Twelfth Night revel in the local manor house. Then it develops that her very identity is at question and a couple of generation's worth of secrets are dragged out into the light.

Melrose Plant is on the scene, a guest of the local baronet and insists that Jury be summoned. Any number of intriguing characters wander through, including a 12-year old boy who has been abandoned by his mother but is working and supporting himself and his dog - under the watchful eyes of several of the ladies of the village. In a side action, Jury sets that matter straight. A satisfying bit.